Illegal to Grow States

Reviewed September 19, 2026. Buying cannabis legally and growing it yourself are different permissions. The 24 states reviewed below do not provide a general personal marijuana home-growing allowance; a medical cannabis card, where available, does not by itself authorize cultivation.

This updates the older December 2023 list with official government sources. It concerns personal marijuana cultivation, not separately licensed commercial production, authorized research or regulated hemp. It is not an exhaustive survey of every state: an omitted state should not be assumed to permit home growing.

States reviewed and official sources

• Alabama: The AMCC patient rules (PDF), rule 538-X-2-.08(2), do not authorize patient or caregiver cultivation.
• Arkansas: Department of Health FAQs say patients and designated caregivers cannot grow their own.
• Delaware: Office of the Marijuana Commissioner FAQs distinguish licensed cultivation from personal growing, including for medical patients.
• Florida: Section 381.986(12)(d) expressly prohibits patient or caregiver cultivation.
• Georgia: Medical Cannabis Commission FAQs confirm that the medical program does not allow patients to grow marijuana.
• Indiana: Indiana Code 35-48-4-11(a)(2) prohibits knowingly or intentionally growing or cultivating marijuana.
• Iowa: Section 124.401 prohibits unauthorized manufacture; 124.101 includes cultivation in production. 124E.12 separates licensed production from patient possession protections.
• Kansas: Section 21-5705 prohibits cultivation; 21-5706 separately prohibits possession. A plant-count threshold for a particular offense is not a small-home-grow allowance.
• Kentucky: Medical Cannabis Program FAQs explicitly say individuals may not grow their own medical cannabis.
• Louisiana: R.S. 40:966 and 40:961 prohibit unauthorized production, including cultivation. 40:1046 provides for separately licensed therapeutic production, not patient home growing.
• Mississippi: Medical Cannabis Program regulations, rule 4.4.1, expressly prohibit home growing.
• Nebraska: Section 71-24,105 protects qualified patient use, possession and acquisition, not production. 28-416 and the 28-401 definitions prohibit unauthorized manufacture, including cultivation.
• New Hampshire: RSA 126-X:1 XIII(c) expressly excludes patient and caregiver cultivation from protected therapeutic use. RSA 318-B:2 prohibits unauthorized manufacture and possession.
• New Jersey: CRC general FAQs and patient FAQs confirm that neither adult-use purchases nor medical registration permit home growing.
• North Carolina: G.S. 90-95 prohibits unauthorized manufacture; 90-87 includes cultivation in production. This is a state-law summary, not a statement about sovereign tribal law.
• North Dakota: Chapter 19-24.1 (PDF) distinguishes patient acquisition, use and possession from registered-facility production. Chapter 19-03.1 (PDF) prohibits unauthorized manufacture, including cultivation.
• Pennsylvania: Medical Marijuana Act section 304 prohibits growing outside its permitted production system; a patient card is not a grower permit.
• South Carolina: Sections 44-53-110 and 44-53-370 define cultivation as production and prohibit unauthorized manufacture or possession.
• Tennessee: TBI guidance distinguishes regulated hemp cultivation from marijuana, which remains illegal in Tennessee.
• Texas: DPS patient FAQ question 10 says patients cannot grow their own cannabis; licensed dispensing organizations are different.
• Utah: Official patient guidance requires pharmacy-sourced medical cannabis. Section 76-18-208 (PDF) prohibits unauthorized production; Chapter 4-41a (PDF) separately licenses production establishments.
• West Virginia: Office of Medical Cannabis FAQs prohibit medical-marijuana growing outside authorized production arrangements; a patient card does not confer that permission.
• Wisconsin: Section 961.41 prohibits unauthorized manufacture and specifically addresses marijuana plants. Its four-or-fewer-plants offense is not permission to grow four plants.
• Wyoming: Section 35-7-1040 (Title 35 PDF) prohibits planting or cultivating marijuana except as otherwise authorized by law.

Some sources give an explicit home-growing answer; others distinguish prohibited production from the limited activities protected for patients. A license to produce cannabis for a regulated business is not the same as a medical patient card. Proposed bills and future-effective rules are not current permission.

This is general information, not individualized legal advice. Laws and program rules can change. Consult the linked state agencies or a qualified attorney before acting; do not rely on a dispensary purchase, an out-of-state card or this list as authorization to cultivate.